Images of Peter Zumthor’s design for the 2011 Serpentine Pavilion have been released and it looks like this year’s pavilion will not look like ones from the past when it’s built this summer in Hyde Park. For starters, Zumthor’s pavilion is introverted, inviting people to sit around in a garden, inside a garden, and take a break from the hectic city. The pavilion is dark and heavy-looking, although the actual construction will be lightweight: “The 2011 Pavilion will be constructed of a lightweight timber frame wrapped with scrim and coated with a black paste mixed with sand.” There’s often something surprising about the materiality that Zumthor uses, something low tech and earthy. For instance this chapel he designed formed interior space by burning logs in cast concrete. The floor is poured lead.

Even though I’m not super crazy about the renderings (mostly b, I’m looking forward to seeing the results; I’ll post new images of the pavilion as they become available.